Just finished Hugh Howley's, Sand, which was a lot of fun (thanks Dave). I enjoyed it a lot, but, like the Silo series, I felt that it lost its fizzle about 3/4 of the way in. A great premise, but then a less than stellar story evolves from it.

Too long since I read the Algebraist, though I remember that being a good one too.The Hydrogen Sonata is in the Culture series, so helps if you have read some of them before. It's very good, but as with other Banks sci fi it is complex and curious.

I just finished reading a book I really enjoyed. I wouldn't normally mention it, because it's the first story collection by a friend of mine, but it's receiving such unanimous praise and acclaim, I'm reassured that my appreciation for this book is not influenced by my friendship with the writer.

It's ANA KAI TANGATA by Scott Nicolay.

It's very dark and weird, cosmic horror along the lines of Laird Barron or the like. Here's what I wrote about it on Goodreads.com:

Quote

Scott Nicolay is a friend of mine, so I already knew the man could really write. But seeing several familiar stories together like this, along with others I hadn't read previously, I come from ANA KAI TANGATA away very, very impressed with his skill and talent. These stories overflow with invention and intelligence, and comprise what might well end up being the book of the year. Certainly it's one of the best debut collections I've ever read, and promises great things to come. Anyone interested in horror or weird fiction, or just dark and disturbing stories of troubled and broken people, will want to check this out.

I'll write a more comprehensive review later, but for now I'll just say this book is the "can't miss" collection of the year.

One last thing... Some of you know I also do some fiction writing. I don't normally want to push that on this forum, which is mostly an ambient music message board, but since we're talking about stories, I thought it wouldn't hurt to mention a few things. Some of my recent and coming-soon stories are as follows.

Blake Crouch - PinesPretty neat book about a secret service agent who visits a small, mountain town to track down two agents who are missing. Shortly after his arrival, he gets in a car accident and has a profound bout of amnesia. The remainder of the novel is about him re-discovering who he is, why he is in Wayward Pines, and why he can't leave. This book is part thriller, part horror, and part sci-fi--a mix of all my favorite genres.

Mike: I pre-ordered Far From Streets and am looking forward to reading it!

About halfway through The Stand which also happens to be my first Stephen King read.

I cannot believe how crappy films and series in the 80's and his own public disliking of The Shining have casted me against this author. My (stupid) reasoning being that if he speaks out against The Shining, a better film than most others in my opinion, he's probably not a man of taste. A misguided fan boy-ism if ever there was one!

Such an amazing read, such great characters.. so good to be wrong : - )

I can't really blame you for thinking you wouldn't enjoy King based on the MANY bad TV shows and films of his work. I believe his dislike for the film of The Shining was not so much because he judged it a poor film, but because it changed several central aspects of the story and especially the main character, whom King has since admitted includes many aspects or elements of himself.

The Stand is a great read, and if you want to pursue more of King's work after that, you'll find no shortage of great books. Some of the mid-period work is of mixed quality, like The Tommyknockers and that kind of thing, but his early work is all great up through Christine or Cujo, and his later work improved a lot after he cleaned up his substance abuse problems. Later books like Bag of Bones and Lisey's Story and 11/22/63 are very worthwhile. Also, there's the massive Dark Tower series!

Dave:

Hope you'll enjoy Annihilation.. let me know what you think. I'm curious about Ancillary Justice, too. It just won the Nebula award for "best novel" yesterday. I've heard very good things about it and I love the idea of a writer tackling a big, traditional space opera with their first novel.

One last time, I'll mention my novella 'Far From Streets,' as it's about to go out of print in pre-order. Just three copies left at the publisher.

Far From Streets

Modern life constricts. The swarming city, homogenous suburbs. Overscheduled lives accumulate layers of obligation. We add more, more of what we think life should contain, until we can't stand any more. The clutter starts grinding us away. We dream of escape, a simplier life among open spaces. Forests and rivers. Mountain wilderness.

Reverence for nature balances against the terror of isolation. Mutual dependency leads to resentment. Our fondest dreams drag us toward places that threaten our very survival. When the last remaining tether is cut, time spins away. We no longer recognize ourselves in the mirror. Our surroundings become strange. The end comes rushing.

Far From Streets combines influences such as Von Trier's "Antichrist" and Blackwood's "The Willows" into a confrontational psychodrama of craving and repulsion, emotional drift and dislocation, set deep in the Cascade Mountain forests of Oregon.